Mono + Six Afterstory || Little Nightmares II

Fifteen

     Mono walked around aimlessly in the dark after separating from Six, trying to cover as much ground as possible. Knowing her, she was going to run and not stop running, so he was doing the same. Well, to be honest, after a while he got scared and started moving kind of slowly. Like usual, he took comfort in talking to himself because he was very used to being alone.
     "Hm...ngh... I'm not gonna think about how dark it is. Six, where are you? You could intimidate the monsters if you were here..." He frowned and held his arms securely, wishing he had his coat but not regretting giving it to Six. With a sigh, he shook his head and clenched his eyes shut, trying to block out any negative thoughts about his situation. "There...was a crooked man...and he walked-" he attempted to distract himself with poetry his father read to him when he was younger, but he heard groaning noises in the distance, and it made him freeze up. He was shaking, too, and didn't know if he could make it through by himself. "And he walked...a crooked mile. He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile." After finishing the verse, he felt slightly more relaxed, and he continued walking momentarily.
     When he had made some considerable distance in the drenched, murmuring halls, he had gotten so focused on surviving that he'd forgotten what he was reciting. So he began another: "Who killed Cock Robin? I, said the sparrow, with my bow and arrow, I killed Cock Robin." Upon getting through the first few lines, he paused because he spotted a cage that looked small enough to fit rodents in it, or maybe even children his size. "This...is definitely a trap. I should just go around it." He remarked aloud, but after walking past the cage, he thought about Six and stopped again. "Would Six fall for this? No, right? Well—" he turned around to look at the contraption, noticing the meat inside of it. "If she's really hungry...she probably will."
With a sigh, Mono put his hand on the cage door, pondering his decision for a moment. "I have a feeling she's in danger... I should just get caught so I can be with her again." In hindsight, it did seem like a pretty sound option, and without thinking anymore, he crouched and walked into the cage. He nearly jumped out of his skin when the door suddenly shut violently behind him. "Okay, I change my mind—" he whimpered as he turned around to see what was carrying him; his eyes were so wide that he felt like they would pop out of his head. He was just extremely terrified of this monster with long arms.
"This was such a stupid idea... What the heck was I thinking?" He scolded himself, furrowing his eyebrows and taking a seat in the cage. Even if he did have his powers, he really did think this was his only chance at finding Six again, so he chose not to fight back. Eventually, he became so complacent that his eyes started to close, and he slipped into unconsciousness.

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Mono snapped awake all of a sudden when he heard a loud bang and some scraping sounds. He panted breathlessly since he felt so scared and looked around the room, noticing Riley in a cage being towed away. He wanted to shout, but he felt paralyzed. He only snapped out of it a moment later when the door closed and someone nearby waved him over. He didn't realize until he saw that menacing face that it was Six.
"Six! Are you okay?" He rammed into the side of his cage and knocked it off of the surface he was on, then breaking free from a hole in the top. He was about to go assist the girl in escaping, but she followed his lead without question. He didn't hesitate to run over to her and hug her, holding her tightly in his arms, securely.
He wouldn't let her leave his sight again. She was too fragile, too numb to go at these things alone. He worried that, if she witnessed much more, she would turn into a different person. "I missed you. I was so scared I would never see you again." He couldn't stop smothering her with love. She deserved every bit of it.

Hesitantly, Six reached her trembling arms up and returned the hug, resting her head on his shoulder to feel closer to him. She didn't want to cry, but she couldn't help feeling so broken. If only Mono knew how scared she had been, too. "I...missed you too. We can't stay here, though. We have to keep moving and rescue him." She pulled away slowly, starting to drag him to the hanging lever in the room. Before she could get too far, he tugged away from her and frowned, glancing back at the kids in cages.